Coin operated vending machines, so-called "bulk vendors", are widely used to dispense a variety of merchandise, from confectionaries and snack foods to toys. In order to design a bulk vendor which is capable of dispensing such a wide variety of merchandise, it is desirable that the volume of containers within a dispensing wheel be adjustable, to accommodate merchandise of different sizes and to allow the operator to select the amount of any particular type of merchandise which will be dispensed with a single turn of the coin mechanism.
In a conventional bulk vendor, containers for carrying articles to be vended are formed within the spaces between spokes in a dispensing wheel. The dispensing wheel revolves with each turn of a coin operated gear mechanism, advancing the next container to a dispensing aperture. Overlaying the dispensing wheel is an adjusting wing, provided with openings so that articles in the product bin will fall into empty containers as the wheel revolves. Each container is defined by the hub of the dispensing wheel, the rim of the dispensing wheel, a leading wall formed by a spoke of the dispensing wheel, and a trailing wall depending from the adjusting wing into the space between the spokes.
Each container is adjustable in size by rotating the adjusting wing relative to the dispensing wheel. This moves the trailing walls closer to or further from the leading walls of the containers, reducing or increasing the containers' size. In a typical bulk vendor the dispensing wheel is provided with an arc of notches in which a projection from the adjusting wing is seated, in order to set the container size. The size of the containers may then be changed by lifting the adjusting wing slightly from the dispensing wheel and dropping it back in the desired position, such that the projection extending from the adjusting wing engages a different notch in the dispensing wheel. The container size will be selected by the operator according to the size of the merchandise being dispensed and the number of articles to be dispensed with each turn of the coin mechanism. Such a design is well known to those skilled in the art.
However, there are disadvantages inherent in this design. The adjusting wing is retained against the dispensing wheel, thus ensuring that it remains in the selected position, by the hub of an agitator used to create a flow of articles in the product bin. Thus, in order to reset the size of the containers in the dispensing wheel, the entire upper assembly of the vendor must be dismantled, and the agitator removed from its axle, allowing the adjusting wing to be lifted from the dispensing wheel.
The present invention overcomes these disadvantages. The invention provides an adjusting wing overlying a dispensing wheel and rotationally fixed thereto by a retractable locking pin extending from the dispensing wheel and engaging one of a series of holes in the adjusting wing. Thus, service personnel can alter the size of the containers in the dispensing wheel merely by depressing the pin until it disengages the adjusting wing and then rotating the adjusting wing relative to the dispensing wheel. In a preferred embodiment, a peripheral wheel retainer plate is provided with notches adapted to be engaged by a toothed pin depressing tool, to enable service personnel to accurately adjust the size of the containers in small, controlled increments. While the product bin must be emptied the adjusting wing does not need to be lifted off the dispensing wheel in order to effect this adjustment, and therefore no dismantling of the apparatus is required other than removal of the top or front panel of the product bin to allow access to the dispensing wheel.